


Acid One-Shot Collection

by kiki_92



Category: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Friendship, Gift Fic, Hurt/Comfort, Male-Female Friendship, Multi, Training Shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:48:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27844750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiki_92/pseuds/kiki_92
Summary: I wrote a couple of fics about a friend's OC,Acid Cat, as a gift and part of a trade.
Relationships: Gustave "Doc" Kateb & Original Female Character, Olivier "Lion" Flament & Original Female Character, hints of Montagne/Doc
Kudos: 11





	1. Doc & Acid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is based on a short comic [Acid Cat](https://twitter.com/AcidCat12) drew about her OC, Acid, and Doc. I basically just "novelized" it xD

The world was crumbling. In truth, Doc knew it was just his legs giving up, but between that and the shockwave and rumble from the explosion, it truly felt like the earth beneath his feet just disappeared.

He stared in horror as the building fell down, cracks appearing on the walls right before they collapsed. His teammates were still there. The attack team had been on their way to the evac point. Maybe they were lost somewhere in the dust cloud, wounded but alive. Maybe someone made it out, and they needed his help. Doc realised he started to walk towards the wreckage when someone pulled him back. Instinctively, he pushed the person away. Who did they think they were to keep him from doing his job? Gilles… He had to be alive. And the recruits too, someone had to be alive, and Doc wouldn’t stop until he found them. However, he was still being held back.

“Are you fucking nuts?” A panicked voice asked, and recognition didn’t come until a few seconds later. Acid. Right, she had been part of his team this time around.

“They’re still in there, let me go!” Doc yelled, yanking his arm hard to try to dislodge himself from Acid’s tight grip.

“Yes, and what remains of it is crumbling down!”

A chunk of concrete and metal beams fell down, crushing what had been the main entrance about five minutes ago, and proving Acid’s point. It didn’t matter, at this point Doc wasn’t thinking rationally. He had just seen _his_ Gilles and the recruits he helped train for the last six months get trapped in there, or worse.

“You don’t understand, I can save them.” Doc wasn’t sure if he was pleading to Acid, or trying to convince himself, but he kept saying it again and again, as if repetition would somehow make it true. “I know I can save them, please let me go.”

She didn’t answer him, her own choked sobs preventing her from speaking. However, instead of granting his wish, she hugged him from behind, effectively securing him on the spot.

“I said let me go! Please Arianna, let me go!!”

He fought against her tooth and nail, squirming and trying to throw her off of him, but Acid wouldn’t let go. After a while, Doc’s pleas turned into inarticulate screaming, until his energy left him, and all he could do was stay there on his knees, crying. Only then he heard Acid repeating the same few words again and again too, “I’m sorry Gus, I’m so sorry.”

There was no way to deny it now, the attack team was most probably dead or dying. It truly felt like the whole world crumbled away into nothing, leaving Doc in a dark void. They may have extracted the hostages, but at what price. 

Sometimes, victory tasted like tears and heartache, a loss instead of a win.  
_ 

“... are you? Gustave?"

His eyes flicked towards the source of the voice. Lera. When did she arrive here? He couldn’t remember. Doc knew losing time was never a good sign, but he couldn’t muster the energy to worry. He just didn’t care.

Looking around, he saw Jäger helping the recruits from Doc’s team into the helicopter. Acid was nearby, talking with Ace. That was good, Doc didn’t want to deal with him at the moment. Why was he here, anyway? And all geared up, too.

“Gustave,” Lera put a hand on his shoulder, making him focus his attention on her. “Ace, Soutien and I will find and help anyone still alive. But you have to get into the transport.”

He shook his head, slowly at first then gaining confidence. “No, no, I’ll stay and help.”

“You’re in no fit state to help anyone,” Finka declared. Before he could protest, she continued, “You’re in shock. I gave you a sedative and you didn’t even notice.”

Oh. That… he didn’t remember that. It made sense, Doc realised detachedly, he would order the same to a patient who showed similar symptoms. And yet he wanted to stay.

“C’mon Doc, let’s go,” Acid took him by the hand, helping him up and gently leading him away. Strangely enough, he followed her. He felt so tired and giving in was easier than fighting back. Finka also seemed happy by his choice, and by Acid’s promise. “I’ll take care of him.”

Once on the helicopter, Acid wrapped a blanket around his shoulders and Doc didn’t shrug it off. He was cold, and dead tired. Between the adrenaline crash and the sedative Finka had given him, Doc slipped off into a restless sleep while Acid petted his hair in silent support. 

It was supposed to be an easy mission, something to get the recruits and the rookie used to how a real operation worked. But it had been a trap, and neither he nor Gilles had seen it coming. They should have.

_ _ _

Three days. 

He had been in his room since Soutien declared him physically fine. The post-mission debrief with Harry had been painfully long and full of silences on Doc’s part, but there really wasn’t much to tell, and he didn’t want to answer any of Harry’s probing questions right then. He had been put in temporary leave, citing a need to process the trauma. What would Harry know, what Doc needed was to not feel useless! There was no convincing Six though.

News about the rescue operation proceedings came to him in small bits, as if they feared knowing more would break him. At least he knew Gilles was alive, a ray of light in the bleakness that surrounded him. However, he couldn’t visit him yet, so Doc saw no incentive to move from his room at all. He could not work, he could not visit his partner, and honestly he could not give a damn about anything else.

Doc spent the last days laying on bed and looking at the ceiling or wall. The guilt was crushing him. It had been his idea to take that mission, it had seemed an easy job. He obviously failed at reading the situation correctly. It had been his responsibility as the team’s medic to take care of anyone injured during the mission, and he couldn’t even do that. Three of the recruits had died in the explosion, but Gilles and the other one survived. Greatly injured, but alive. Well, at least they had been at the moment, the recruit had died shortly after arriving at the base, he heard. Maybe if Doc had fought harder and done his damn job, the poor man would have survived.

In some moments, all his anger shifted from himself to Acid. If she hadn’t held him back, they wouldn’t be in this situation. Those episodes only lasted a few minutes, since Doc quickly realised blaming her for keeping him safe was unfair and quite hypocritical of him. After all, he had done the same in other circumstances, restraining one of the Russians so he wouldn’t rush headfirst into danger in the dubious hope of saving an injured comrade. No, Acid was not to blame, she had done what she had to do. It was all on him, Doc decided. He should have been with the attacking team. Once the hostages had been extracted, he should have gone back and then… 

However, despite all the self-blame and “what ifs” Doc had been running in his head these last three days, the worst part was the ugly burst of relief when hearing that, despite all odds, Gilles was still alive. May Allah forgive him, but the darkest and most selfish part of him considered that Gille’s life was more valuable than the four others. The medic in him was horrified, but Gilles was his partner, his lover, and Doc couldn’t really help it.

Friends came to visit him, usually bringing him food since Doc refused to leave his room unless he was finally allowed to visit Gilles. He always listened to them for a while, before his mind drifted away: Twitch’s gentle voice prattling about how it was a great day to go out for a bit, Rook’s forced smile as he lied through his teeth and said Doc was looking better. Today it was Acid’s turn it seemed.

“Woah, how long has it been since you showered? You stink.”

Doc almost snorted at her bluntness. At least she wasn’t pretending everything was fine. They had a small argument as Acid wanted to bathe him and Doc refused. He was a grown man, he didn’t need to be bathed by anyone! In the end, he voluntarily went to take a shower, since Acid threatened to throw him in a bathtub and treat him like a child if he refused to act as the adult he claimed to be.

In the time it took him to shower and get into clean clothes, Acid went to the cafeteria and came back with a tray laden with enough food to feed the whole GIGN team. Unlike the others, she didn’t seem deterred by his silence and refusal to eat. Sitting on the bed with him, Acid started literally feeding him. Or at least she tried to. Doc wasn’t neither a kid nor an invalid, and snatched the spoon from her hands to do it himself. Maybe if he ate a little, she would stop doing that. 

The bright smile on her face told him that he had fallen squarely on her trap, but once he started eating, Doc realised he was hungry. In the end, between the two of them ate most of the food, although to be fair Acid did most of the job. She talked a lot too, telling him about the latest exploits from Dante, how Finn kept playfully annoying Sledge, and that Frederick was baking a _get well soon_ cake for him. That last bit made Doc shudder. Knowing the New Zealander’s penchant for weird food combinations, he might end up with a wasabi cake or similar.

“And that’s everything you missed these days,” Acid concluded. Doc didn’t answer, but she seemed unable to let any silence last for more than a few seconds. “What would you like to do?”

The answer was instant. “I want to see Gilles. How is he?”

“Finka says he’s stable, but will be at least two weeks at the hospital. The medbay? I’m still not used to these terms,” Acid sounded sheepish yet chipper, and Doc was tempted to ask her how she could carry on happily like this. He didn’t. After all, she didn’t know any of the dead or Gilles like he did, it was natural she wouldn’t be affected, he guessed. However, her impish expression was starting to worry him. “I know you’re not supposed to visit Montagne yet, but I can sneak you in.”

Doc jumped out of the bed, showing more vitality in one second than he’d exhibited in days. “What are we waiting for?”

_ _ _

This is what he was reduced to nowadays, sneaking into his own infirmary wing. It was surprisingly easy. Between his knowledge of the place, and Acid acting as a distraction for anyone who could have blocked their way, Doc soon found himself going down the familiar corridors and turns. He tamped down on the urge to run, not wanting to alert anyone of his presence, nor disturb the rest of the other occupant of the infirmary. He briefly crossed paths with Caliber, who probably shouldn’t be wandering the infirmary corridors either, but she just winked at him and went on her way.

Silently, Doc found his way to the ICU, his heart beating faster the closer he got to it. Seeing Gilles there, unmoving and hooked up to all those machines was both heartbreaking and an immense relief. He was alive, he really was alive. In the darkest hours of last night, Doc had even wondered if Gilles had died and everyone was keeping it a secret from him. He could weep in relief, although Doc would only breathe easier once Gilles woke up.

“He will get better, you’ll see.” Acid’s voice startled him, Doc hadn’t heard her arrive. 

Being able to finally see him, and Acid’s absolute belief in Gilles’ recovery made Doc feel somewhat better, lighter, as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

“He will,” Doc repeated. “Gilles is a fighter.”

“Do you want to go in? I can stay on the lookout and warn you if someone comes by.”

Always the temptress, Acid was just offering Doc what he wanted the most, and he seized the opportunity. There was a single chair in the room, and Doc brought it next to the bed, so he could sit down and hold Gilles’ hand. It was a little colder than usual, but solid and real and reassuring. After a while, he started to doze off, and he could have sworn Gilles squeezed his hand, but it could also have been wishful thinking and product of his tired mind.

When Acid came in to warn him someone was coming and it was time to leave, Doc went willingly; but not before getting her to agree to sneak him in tomorrow too. Acid readily agreed, and Doc followed her. For once, she didn’t talk non-stop as it was her usual, and Doc also kept silent until they reached his room again.

“Arianna, thank you.” She had proved to be a good friend, albeit a bit of a bad influence when it came to following the rules. However, it was exactly what Doc had needed.

“Don’t mention it,” she waved her hands, as if dismissing she had done anything out of the ordinary. Maybe for her sneaking into places was a common happenstance, who knew. “Now lemme read you something before going to sleep.”

Doc quirked up an eyebrow, looking at her in amusement. “You realise I’m not your son, _oui_?”

“Yes, you’re too old for me to be your mom,” Acid agreed. She still went into the room before Doc did, and then tugged on his sleeve to make him follow her. “But nobody’s old enough to not appreciate a bedtime story, come onnn.”

Realising she wouldn’t budge, and that it was far easier to agree than try to fight her, Doc let her go and set next to Acid on the bed. Certainly, listening didn’t require a big effort, and he wondered if her insistence of being his self-appointed caretaker was her way to cope with the feelings of impotence the incident brought in everyone. In any case, her efforts weren’t hurting anyone, and Doc had to admit if it wasn’t for Acid he would still be wallowing in his misery and guilt. So if she wanted to tell him a tale, he would listen, as a thank you for everything she had done for him.


	2. Lion & Acid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The base idea for this: Acid takes training seriously for once and gets an ace, just to shut up Lion and his bragging :D  
> I was pretty damn nervous about this one, since it's written from Acid's pov, and the fear of getting her personality wrong was real, since she's not my character. But [Acid Cat](https://twitter.com/AcidCat12) was really patient with me and my questions until I got a solid idea of how she'd act and get along with the other operators!

The training area in the Stadium looked so new and shiny, a perfect playing area to test different gadgets and goof around with her teammates. Acid knew this was probably not the correct mindset to have when it came to those training sessions, especially because Harry let a long-suffering sigh when she talked about it in those terms. Yet, to her, it was playing. What other word could she use to describe it when she knew it was safe,and surrounded by her friends? Honestly, the weird looks she got were unwarranted.

Some people took training way too seriously, in her opinion. Who cared if you took down the whole opposing team by yourself, or if you got yeeted into a mud puddle by an airjab instead, it was good to remember none of these situations were real. And getting angry at your team for their performance, or being overly confident in your own, were both a sign of someone needing to step back and take a chill pill, as far as she was concerned. However, her friend didn’t think like that.

“We’re going to smash them!” Lion crowed for the umpteenth time. “Just stay with me, make sure none of them sneaks up behind us, and we’ll be unstoppable. I can’t wait to see Doc’s face when I make him bite the dust.”

While enthusiasm and confidence were always a good state of mind to be in before starting, Lion was bordering on obsession at the moment. He was like a broken record, boasting about how the defenders stood no chance, looking so smug that Acid was itching to shake Lion and tell him to shut the fuck up already. They hadn’t even reached the locker rooms and she was already debating whether to team kill him would be a fitting punishment or if it would be excessive. 

Despite their differences, she liked Lion; she really did. Yet sometimes he was in dire need of learning when to stop. Not because Acid was against boasting, but because he was getting on everyone’s nerves.

It wasn’t until he said something about how Lions were naturally the kings of the jungle and he would make everyone bow to him that Acid snapped. Not in a violent way, but in a quiet and sneaky one. She had a quiet talk with the attacker’s team leader, Thatcher, and told him she wanted to switch teams. He wasn’t thrilled.

“You better give me a good reason for wanting a last minute change,” the old Brit grumbled. And while his expression was definitely sour, Acid knew that he wasn’t unreasonable. Besides, if he didn’t budge, she could always play the card of wanting to one-up Lion, and Thatcher would gladly do it then.

“I have been training a lot with Oli, and Harry wanted me to try both sides equally. I think it’s time I was part of the defender team for once?”

“Fine, fine,” Thatcher threw his hands up in exasperation. “But you better find a replacement for your spot!”

That wouldn’t be a problem. She had spotted Montagne talking with Blitz, and he could not resist her puppy eyes. He quickly agreed to be her replacement, much to Blitz’ delight. Shield carriers always liked to work together. If it was up to them, they’d make a full shield attacking team, which was a little weird but sounded like fun too. Maybe Acid would ask one of them to teach her some shield basics one of these days.

Not now, though. She already had a self-imposed mission at the moment. Jogging up to the defender team, she got Goyo to agree to let her have his place. None of their teammates understood a single word of their conversation in Spanish, but Acid’s mischievous giggle and Goyo’s brief laugh were more than enough for them to know she was up to something.

“Okay guys, who is the captain here?” She asked, waving back at a very happy Rook.

“I am,” Doc admitted, giving her a slightly skeptical look. “What’s your speciality?”

“No idea! I suppose Harry wanted me to train with both sides to discover that,” Acid smiled happily. “But I think I’d like to try roaming, I was never good at waiting in one place.”

“Can’t be worse than having a recruit.” Bandit’s brand of optimism didn’t convince Doc that much, but Acid didn’t take offense with it. She was basically like a recruit, still learning the ropes. No shame in that. And, looking on the bright side, Bandit seemed to have some confidence in her abilities after all.

Acid listened to Doc’s instructions about their team’s basic strategy, helped reinforce walls, and asked Kapkan if he could spare his C4. After all, the hunter also had impact grenades, and with so many explosives, he surely wouldn’t miss one, right? Luckily for her, Kapkan handed her the C4, reluctantly, but he did.

After that, she rushed off site and realised she had no idea what roaming exactly entailed. She could just walk randomly across the building, waiting to see if she met any attacker, but this time Acid had a simple goal in mind: teach Lion a lesson in humility. Maybe she should have followed Doc’s favorite tactic of spawnpeeking, but it was too late now.

Knowing Lion liked to attack from the top floor most of the time, Acid went to the room with the hatch, since last time that was the route they had taken along with Hibana. It didn’t take long until she heard footsteps above, and then the hissing sound of Ace’s water based gadget cutting through the hatch. Bingo. As soon as the hole was made, she threw the borrowed C4 up and detonated it.

The sweet confirmation blared through the loudspeakers in the stadium. “Operator Ace down.” 

One out, four more to go. Heh, this was easy! She ran downstairs and hid in the room next to the entrance door. Waiting, she listened, hoping this wouldn’t be a waste of her time. The unmistakable clinking sound of someone moving while carrying a shield was approaching fast. Well, as fast as shields could move.

However, instead of going to bash the barricade at the main entrance, they started hitting the one blocking the window on this room where Acid was hiding. She lay down on the ground, right beneath the window. The barricade crumbled down and for a moment nothing happened. If they were about to drone she was screwed, how could she have forgotten about that! Maybe it would be better if she sprung up now and preemptively attacked, or fled this place…

Right then, Blitz jumped through the window, completely unaware of the devious cat waiting for the mouse to come in. Just as he landed in the room, Acid used her claw shaped gloves to hit him from behind in a sweeping motion. Blitz ended face down on the floor, letting out some words in German that Acid assumed were curses. She didn’t stay long enough in the room to find out though, she hopped through the windows to go outside, and had the good fortune of catching Thatcher in the process of taking out a claymore. 

She emptied the mag of both her pistols on him, securing yet another death before he had time to put the claymore down. Although Thatcher didn’t seem so amused, probably because of the ‘bullets’ that landed on his face, leaving white dust splotches on his mask’s lenses.

“Sorry grandpa!” Acid yelled before going inside again. Nothing personal, she just had a Lion to hunt and didn’t want anyone finding her prey before she did.

One of Kapkan’s traps went off somewhere on the upper floor, and Acid realised the two missing attackers had eluded her and were trying to push into site. Dammit.

In the time it took her to go back, the announcer had already recited the death of two of her teammates, leaving only Rook and Bandit to defend the objective. Since she was still learning the layout of the place, Acid took the first set of stairs she saw, but those were not the correct stairs. When she finally arrived at the bombsite, Bandit was also out of the match and it was all down to her and Rook.

A familiar beeping noise let her know the defuser had been planted, and she soon saw a cloud of smoke in the middle of the room. Acid didn’t hesitate and started shooting, but the bullets were ricocheting against something metallic. Montagne’s shield, most probably. She ducked out of the way just in time, as someone else started shooting back from inside the smoke cloud. That could only be Lion, using more and more ammo in an effort to get her. But eventually he would have to reload.

The smoke had already cleared by now, and Acid kept making quick peeks to keep track of the situation, and make Lion waste bullets. As soon as she heard the click of his gun, signaling an empty magazine, she darted out. Acid had to give credit where it was due, Lion already had his pistol out, knowing she would push him now, but Acid had faster reflexes. 

One bullet to his chest and the announcer was already parroting “Operator Lion down.”

“Julien, go defuse!” Acid shouted, not knowing exactly where her remaining teammate was hiding. “I’ll keep an eye on him.”

Realistically, they all knew Montagne’s odds to beat them both were really slim, but she also knew he wouldn’t just surrender. Instead, Montagne ignored Rook and started getting closer and closer to Acid, as if trying to push her out of the room. He even tried to hit her at melee range, but the movement left part of his left side exposed, and Acid didn’t even bother to aim to shoot at him.

After Rook was done and the round was officially won, she jumped at him in joy, trapping Rook in a crushing hug. “We did it, we did it!”

“You did it,” the Frenchman replied, his face all flushed both from how much Acid was squishing him and the fact she was pressing herself fully against him.

Yes, well done, Acid.”

“Told you she’d be better than a recruit.”

“Not bad for your first time.”

The rest of her team came to congratulate her, all at once, creating a wall of noise along with the attackers groans as they shook off the white dust from being hit. Lion was the first of them to approach her, looking slightly displeased by his defeat, as it was to be expected.

“I didn’t know you had it in you.” Lion offered her a handshake, and she took it, squeezing his hand with enthusiasm.

“Lions are kings, but don’t forget that Cats are worshipped as Gods.”

He was stunned by her cheeky reply, which only made her grin wider. That’s exactly what she had been aiming for! Their little chat was cut short by Thatcher, who gave Acid a strange look.

“I had never seen you so focused during training. If wanting to beat Lion is all that it takes, maybe next time you attack we should have him with the defenders.”

She laughed at the joke, but especially at Lion’s offended expression. It was an interesting idea, but only to poke some fun at the haughty attacker. As much as she liked humbling him from time to time, if she was on attack she preferred to have people she knew by her side. After all, cats and lions were like family and worked best together. 

**Author's Note:**

> You can say hi and see what I'm currently up to on [my tumblr](http://r6shippingdelivery.tumblr.com/) and on [my twitter](https://twitter.com/kikipeachywitch) !


End file.
